The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 111 A World of Obsession

When Eying and Yaodan returned to the entrance, they saw the overturned car and realized they had made a small but significant oversight. They had forgotten about the car. Larger relatives and friends could easily find them using the vehicle's GPS tracking.

Eying and Yaodan had no choice but to work together to push the car down the mountain. Although the car was completely wrecked, the problem was still not solved.

They had no choice but to return to the ravine, pile up the scattered parts and wreckage of the car, and gather various dry branches and leaves to set them on fire.

Yu Qing, knowing this, told them that the car must be burned to ashes and buried. But that wasn't enough. Through Ruyi Star, they learned that the car's tracking device couldn't be destroyed by fire. It had to be found in the ashes and thrown into a mountain range or river dozens of kilometers away.

Inside the amusement park, things were bustling. After persuading Yu Lan and the others to return to their lodgings, Chang'e, Furong, and Yan'er were busy cleaning up the remains of dozens of humanoid beauties to prevent Yu Lan and the others from seeing them and becoming frightened again.

Yu Qing and Daji stayed with Yu Lan and the others, calming them down. Only then did Yu Qing have a chance to take a closer look at them. Having changed into new clothes, and with Daji helping them tidy up and dress, they all looked much prettier.

However, compared to Daji, these naturally beautiful women paled in comparison. Yu Lan's nose was a bit small, Yu Xuan's lips were rather thick, Yu Qi was short, and Yu Yi had protruding ears. Once they left this place, they would definitely undergo drastic plastic surgery.

It must be admitted that humanity has lost in the contest with its own creations. Daji looks like a fairy, while Yu Lan and the others are just a few village girls. And Danggui, needless to say, looks like a slovenly child who never grew up.

However, the little fox is definitely an exception. She's even more intelligent than Daji, and when she grows up, she'll surely be a perfect girl with both beauty and talent. In just two days, she's already learned over twenty phrases in Mandarin, and she'll definitely be smarter than me in the future.

This little imp is now even helping Daji teach Yu Yi to say "eat, sleep, relieve yourself..."

Yu Qing barely slept that night, only managing to doze off intermittently.

After Eying and Yaodan returned, Yu Qing hurriedly ate breakfast and set off again. The little fox, being quite cunning, clung to Yu Qing's clothes early in the morning, afraid of leaving her behind. She only let go of his clothes after they got into the carriage together.

After an hour of flying, Yu Qing suddenly realized he had made another small oversight. They had forgotten to switch vehicles, and Hong Hong had been running around all night, nearly depleting her energy. He had to change his plans and head to the nearest small town ahead to resupply.

However, after passing this point, there was no more up-to-date information about that small town on Ruyi Star. Chang'e's outdated records showed that the town had no famous people or things, only a simple name: Sandaoliang.

There's no better option right now, so I'll just have to try it there. If they can't get the power back, I'll just consider it a trip to sunbathe. That would just waste another day or two.

For this, Yu Qing took the opportunity to criticize Yao Dan and E Ying. First, they had missed one vehicle while handling the vehicles last night; second, they shouldn't have used Hong Hong to do the job, as it wasted energy.

Yao Dan retorted, "Husband, you didn't explain it that clearly either."

Yu Qing said with a stern face, "You're starting a rebellion again, aren't you?"

Eying hurriedly said, "Master, it's our fault. You've already explained everything clearly, but we've never done anything so complicated before, so..."

"Okay, that's enough with the attitude."

Yao Dan muttered, "If I do something wrong one day, my husband will definitely chop off my head too."

Yu Qing was startled. This meant that his order to cut off the head of the humanoid girl last night had already cast a shadow on her memory.

Yu Qingchao pouted at the little fox and pointed at Yao Dan. The little fox immediately pounced on Yao Dan, calling her "Sister Dan" repeatedly, which made everyone laugh.

Amidst their laughter and chatter, Honghong had already landed on Sandao Ridge. Their arrival startled an enormous squirrel by the roadside, which let out a strange cry and leaped up a tree, darting back and forth.

The little fox, perched on Yu Qing's shoulders, excitedly pointed at the squirrel and called out, "Big brother, big brother..."

Chang'e laughed and said, "That's a squirrel, not a big brother."

Yu Qing made a gesture as if he had caught the little fox and asked, "You want it, don't you?"

The little fox nodded. Just as Eying was about to jump up the tree to catch the squirrel, a person behind her shouted sharply, "Who dares to be so insolent here!"

When everyone turned around, they saw a man standing not far away, holding an iron fork and glaring at them angrily.

Yu Qing quickly explained, "I'm sorry, it was just a child who wanted to play with the squirrel. Sorry for disturbing you."

The man said angrily, "What? A kid wants to play with our squirrel? Ask my fork if it'll allow it!"

Seeing that he was so angry, Yu Qing knew there must be something fishy going on, so he quickly said, "We are just passing by and are unaware of the local customs. Please forgive us if we have offended you. May I ask if there is a power-charging device here? We will leave immediately after we have charged our batteries."

The man's tone softened: "There is one, about 500 meters ahead. It hasn't been used for a long time. You can try it. Just please don't offend my wife."

Yu Qing was completely bewildered and said, "Your wife? We don't know, we've never even seen her."

The man pointed to the squirrel in the tree and said, "That's my wife."

Yu Qing tried his best to control himself from laughing out loud, biting his lip as he said, "I didn't expect that."

Just then, the squirrel darted down from the tree at incredible speed and climbed onto the man's shoulder. The man stopped talking to them, turned around, and hopped away.

After the man walked away, Yu Qing and Yao Dan finally burst into laughter.

They drove for two or three minutes and found the old charging station. This cheap facility had been discontinued decades ago. Fortunately, although it wasn't very efficient, it was still usable.

Yao Dan couldn't contain her curiosity and asked Yu Qing, "Husband, why would anyone marry a squirrel? This is something that has never been heard of in thousands of years."

"I don't know either. People these days are unconventional, so it's not surprising that they do some bizarre things. The main reason why everything here is so backward is that they have already parted ways with the outside world in terms of behavior and ideas."

"Yes, that makes sense logically. As you've said before, the prospects for a group's development depend on the degree and scale of consensus they reach..."

Eying said, "I don't think about that much. As long as everyone doesn't act on their own and listens to the master in everything, things will definitely go more smoothly."

Yu Qing laughed and said, "Yao Dan, you still have a lot to learn from E Ying when it comes to flattery. I feel extremely pleased to hear that."

"My lord, you are so handsome, so wise and mighty..."

"Stop! That's nauseating."

As they were chatting and laughing, a middle-aged man bounced over. Yu Qing was puzzled by their manner of walking. The man looked around and asked, "Are you from out of town?"

Yu Qing thought to himself, "Isn't this obvious?" Perhaps this was a pretext for him to strike up a conversation, so he replied, "Yes, I was just passing by."

"Then...where are you going?"

Yu Qing didn't feel comfortable answering, and simply said, "We're out having fun, so let's take a walk around up ahead."

The man said, "Wherever I'm going, could you give me a ride? I want to leave this place."

This request put Yu Qing in a very difficult position. E Ying even shook her head at him. However, he quickly found a reason to refuse, saying, "Look, we already have five people."

The man glanced at the little fox, hesitated, and then sighed, preparing to leave.

Yao Dan suddenly asked the man, "Why do you want to leave here? Is it an urgent matter?"

The man seemed to see hope again, stopped, and said, "I'm tired of everything here."

At this moment, Eying told Yuqing that the phone was fully charged and urged him to set off as soon as possible. Clearly, she didn't want to take the risk herself, but Yuqing suddenly changed his mind and decided to give the person a ride.

However, Yu Qing still took certain precautions, making the person sit between Chang'e and Yao Dan.

Impatient Yao Dan had barely lifted the car off the ground when he inquired about the rat wife from the man. The man sighed, "It's all because of the old man's stubbornness!"

Yu Qing asked, "Could this be some kind of belief or totem of yours?"

The man said, "It's a bizarre tradition. More than two hundred years ago, our ancestors lived in a small, snow-covered village. That year, a blizzard lasted for more than twenty days. They were trapped in their houses, without food, and even had to dig out firewood from the thick snow."

When they were at their wits' end and on the verge of starvation, someone discovered a squirrel's burrow hidden in a large tree in the village, which saved them from their predicament. Later, they found more burrows around the village, and thus they all survived.

Since then, we've had a tradition that young people must "marry" a squirrel before getting married, recognizing one as their wife or husband.

Yu Qing laughed and said, "It may sound strange, but it's not a big deal. Just treat it as a ceremony of gratitude."

"No, no, no, it's not a ceremony. You have to take care of your squirrel wife for the rest of your life! And that's not all, the baby squirrels she gives birth to are your sons, and you have to take care of them too. The worst part is that your father's squirrel wife is also your mother, and her sons are your brothers..."

Yao Dan exclaimed, "My God! Isn't that a whole nest?"

"Who says otherwise? I have to take care of more than seven hundred squirrels!"

Yu Qing sighed, "No wonder you wanted to run away. You've lived your whole life for an unreliable custom."

"Who can argue with that? Because of this custom, we've been ridiculed countless times over the years. And we, in turn, laugh at the world for being unreasonable and stop associating with them."

Yu Qing asked, "By the way, where do you want to go? We'll take you there directly."

"Where to... I don't know. How about Xie Mountain up ahead? I went there when I was young, and the people there lived happily..."

The Xie Mountain that the man mentioned wasn't recorded in Chang'e's materials, but according to him, it's about 300 kilometers from Sandaoliang. This market town only existed about twenty years ago, formed by people from all over the world who came there to revel.

Based on his description, Chang'e found some information about those people. They were the once-renowned advocates of "hedonism." Ironically, most of these people were descendants of active participants in the "de-emotionalization movement" of that time.

In fact, human history is, in some ways, a history of constant shifts and reversals. Yu Qing is also shifting; he ignores the highly developed genetic freedom of today and is determined to return to a primitive society.

Yu Qing looked at the middle-aged man with great pity. Judging from the way he had just walked, he or his ancestors had most likely been programmed with some kind of climbing gene to facilitate their movement up and down trees and their interactions with squirrels.

Humans should not covet the special talents of other creatures, nor should they be grateful to those who provide them with food or emotional pleasure. Everything has its own role, and nothing that crosses the line lasts long.

Yu Qing's curiosity about Sandao Liang had subsided, and he began to consider various strategies for dealing with the situation after arriving at the Fourth Paradise. He hoped that only women would be there, or that there would be a little boy about the same age as the fox. If several men suddenly appeared who opposed him, it would definitely be a major headache.

He didn't know if this counted as selfishness. He thought that if there was a group of men in the Fourth Paradise, he would offer them as much help as possible, but he didn't intend to take them with him.

At this moment, the man broke Yu Qing's reverie, pointing to the haphazardly constructed houses below and saying, "That's Xie Mountain."

Yu Qing hurriedly called out, "Honghong, get down and stop in the open space directly in front of you."

After thanking them, the man walked towards the noisy area ahead. Watching his hopping and skipping figure, everyone couldn't help but laugh.

Yu Qing said, "The eagle always laughs at the horse for running itself ragged and never reaching its height, while the horse laughs at the eagle for soaring high but only to reach a farther ground. You laugh at it, but they might be laughing at us in their hearts. Let's go."

The little fox kept shaking Yu Qing's hand, saying, "Big brother, big brother..."

"What's wrong? What's making our little fox so excited?"

It turned out that she saw two people lying on their backs on the ground spinning around by the roadside ahead.

Yao Dan asked, "Husband, what are they doing?"

"I'm ignorant too, I don't know. Is he having epilepsy?"

The little fox kept saying, "Eat, eat!"

Upon closer inspection, Yu Qing realized that the two men were indeed eating. Not far away, there was something resembling a cannon barrel, periodically shooting out clumps of food. The two men spun around, opening their mouths wide to catch the food thrown from the air with pinpoint accuracy.

Yu Qing laughed and said, "What kind of joke is this? It seems like you'll go hungry here if you don't have some skills."

Chang'e said, "It is said that this is how hedonists were back then. They believed that eating was merely a necessary necessity, and if it was not done in a joyful way, they would rather starve to death."

(End of this chapter)